A week ago, I felt as though mine would be the only voice screaming to FIFA and the South African 2010 Soccer World Cup Local Organising Committee to disallow the animal sacrifices planned by the so-called traditional leaders here in honour of the event. Minutes within launching the petition (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Stop-2010-World-Cup-Animal-Sacrifice) on the Care2 network though, it became apparent that I was wrong – other voices were joining mine from right across the world.

The chorus grew rapidly and is but a few voices short of the 2,000 signatory milestone. Judging by the overwhelming public response, 10,000 signatures are within reach! A month and a day remains before the self-imposed deadline for submitting the Stop South Africa from Sacrificing Animals at 2010 Soccer World Cup petition to the FIFA Executive Committee.

Driving towards success in the mean time ….

To improve our chances for success in stopping South Africa from sacrificing animals for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, we have to manage our drive as a carefully orchestrated CAMPAIGN. Unless we do that, we will probably be brushed off and ignored.

We figured that a really good target would be each and every one of the 2010 World Cup Sponsors and Partners – both locally and abroad.

The 2010 World Cup Sponsors are:

Budweiser

Continental

MTN

McDonalds

Satyam

Castrol

The FIFA Partners are:

Adidas

Coca Cola

Sony

Hyandai

Visa

Emirates

The FIFA South Africa Partners are:

BP

Neoafrica

Telkom

FNB

Prasa

Next week I will be sending an email to the Board of each of these sponsors and partners. In brief the email will contain:

a link to the Reuters article which broke the news of the impending sacrifices -http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLN24914120091023, and

a link to the Stop 2010 World Cup Animal Sacrifice petition on the Care2 network

We will also be asking them, as sponsors / partners of FIFA and the 2010 Soccer World Cup, whether they agree with the proposed sacrifices of animals to honour the event. Naturally I will remind them that should the sacrifices happen, they will by virtue of their presence at the 2010 World Cup, be viewed as in support of this abhorrent practice.

Their responses will be duly noted both here and on the Care2 Network Site.

Once the petition is submitted …

Do we sit an wait for a response, hoping that someone somewhere in the great rambling FIFA organisation will send us some sort of an acknowledgement or perhaps even go to the trouble of discussing the matter with their South African ‘leg’?

This kind of tack would be downright naive.

The high level plan of action is thus, that over and above submitting the most crucial document in the campaign (namely the petition) to the FIFA Executive Committee, we will be sending copies of this petition to the FIFA CEO, the Chairman of the South African 2010 World Cup Local Organising Committee, and the 2010 World Cup Sponsors and Partners.

To ensure that we prevent the ‘out of sight out of mind’ trap, we will be asking supporters of the petition (those that are prepared to remain involved for a while longer) to send a pre-formulated email message to all the above organisations on a daily basis. Email addresses will be supplied.

11 Responses

I came back to write that after giving it some thought,
I came to the conclusion that ultimately I stand on your side of this issue.
I dont believe this petition will have any effect but I’ll sign it and hope to be proven wrong.

I understand what You are trying to say here…..
But think about it…. those animals will eventually be killed one way or the other.
If not for the glory of the home side, they will be killed for their meat.
Not like they would be set free and have the chance to live out their lives in the wild – the end result will be the same!
Sorry but I cannot support this… it is pointless and will have absulotely no effect.
I dont support the sacrifice of animals either, that is pointless too, just look at the disappointing play by South Africa.
They are surely eliminated from the tournament because of their weak performance, so You should be happy for that, this proves that animal sacrifice has no effect on their results, and when they are out, the shamans will not sacrifie any other animals to help their team, but I’m sure they will find lots of other reasons to continue this practice.

think that as human beings we should understand that we must have the most profound respect for our planet. Our earth belongs to all beings (including cows). There are so many wrongs on this earth being caused by greed, money, dis-respect and ignorance. How can a person hit, rape or kill another person? How can an insurance company bleed pensioners of their lifetime savings? How can our goverments sell arms to other countries then condemn war? How can a human being think he’s got the right to sacrifice an animal’s life? How can we let big companies raise chickens on a conveyor belt and in cages where they don’t get the room to grow feathers? (We buy the eggs and chicken nuggets!) There are so many of these things going on and nobody seems to care. I live in the south of France and have to put up with the sickening slaughtering of bulls they call Corrida. The locals will tell you that its an honour for a bull to be killed this way!! Who asked the bull what he thought? I’m having great difficulty finding out whether the plans for the ritualistic bull killing in South Africa will go ahead or not but as a life-long football fan It’s really a disturbing situation. I think that as our governing bodies will not have the “balls” to stand up to this barbarism and so it’s up to the people to set the standards. Respect the earth, respect each other, respect animals, respect nature. I am boycotting the world cup if this goes ahead! I really respect african culture and think that they owe nothing to the other continents but nobody can play god in condamming another being to death.

I have friends in South Africa working for PCAP (Prevention of Cruelty against Animals and Plants) who would gladly support your voice both localy and globally, but… I need more information about this case, which is pretty vague here. Who is doing these sacrifices (WE NEED ACTUAL NAMES, ADDRESSES, LINKS TO THEM), where, what is their plan, how to know their point of view or hear their argument, etc…? SO many questions unanswered do not help to make a petition or campaign more effective, but providing the list of WC sponsors is pretty good. Also it is good to contact the players, coaches and national football managers themselves, and get the support from some sport stars against this.
So, please provide more in site accurate information, specially coming directly from South Africa.
Thanks.

I too fully support the petition. I for one love soccer, and was really looking forward to the World Cup here in South Africa, but I refuse to support barbarians. Furthermore, if the sponsors actually condone such a mindless slaughter, then they should not be supported either. Traditions are all good and well, but it is absolutely primitive to slaughter helpless animals. Come on, as human beings our traditions should start tending towards empathy for other living creatures.

I fully support the petition. We know what damage the internet can do to a company’s reputation. I believe everyone should Twitter this, Facebook this, and blog about it. Even put a add on Craigslist to sign the petition. Just ask in your replies if sponsors will support this. and NAME the sponsors.

This is the message I have put out on Twitter.
Is Buddweiser, McDonalds, Castrol, Adidas going to support the animal slaughter for 2010 FIFA Soccer blessing? http://tinyurl.com/yex48g9